VHLMagic, Now let's see, you can do things with your hireling and play a Druid...somehow I knew you had an expansion game going!

I hear you about the inventory thing. Only about 1/3 my inventory is available so I use portals a lot. Most of the used space is charms and the Horadic cube (which is also stuffed to the brim).

I love watching the Assassin use Dragon Claw. She is fast and deadly with two claw class weapons. Both of her weapons were lucky gambles! They aren't worth that much gold but they have gold names and have a lot of good magic. Now that I have as much gold in the stash as it will hold, I gamble away my extra on a regular basis.

I think I'm in a tough battle here. I killed Sparkfist but it cost two mercenaries and now there are no more that cast cold, which is what will work best against Mephisto. Two council champions to go before I get to him.

Any thoughts on how my Paladin can defeat Mephisto? I can't get near him without his lightning spell nearly killing me. I tried a bow and the same thing happened. I can't seem to be out of his range and still use the bow. Any hirelings die almost immediately and are no help.

I am maxed out on lightning resistance but sometimes he gets me with cold and I can't run.

Wish I could help, but I never played a Paladin that far into the game. What I usually do, though, is do some damage, then run down the left side of that big room, he wont follow you all the way down. Heal up there and go back...you should also have your town portal down there ready to use. If he's freezing you, use the thaw potions from your quickslot, like Pib suggested.

It was a grueling battle, but I finally got him. I went after him with melee and a lot of potions. I found that he will go all the way to the stairs to the second level, which worked for me. I could just beat on him and run up the stairs to heal. It took quite a few potions and I made a mistake of using a portal back to town for more. He healed up while I was gone! I came back with nearly a whole inventory full of different potions, though he seemed to use mainly poison. I did a lot better the second round and didn't use many of the potions. Nice to be in Pandemonium Fortress and Act IV.

Hey Pib....do you mean the map that you press the letter M to get? It is faint enough to see through as you walk all over the place????

If this isn't the one then which one is it?

Yes, if you are playing expansion, you can go to the options screen and set it as mini map. It's smaller and moves to the right corner. While the normal one is see through, I was finding it annoying. This one is much better for me.

Disaster! I just lost nearly all my good stuff. I died on the Plain of Disaster and figured I had a spare helmet and shield, so I would try a run in and grab my body. I thought I could only lose those two pieces, but I ended up losing my great plate armour. gaunlets, boots, belt and worst of all, my rings. I went from an attack rating of 550 to 163. My mistake was getting to my body and grabbing it only to die again. I can buy some replacement armor and equipment but I can't replace those great rings. I am hating this save system even more.

I also found that I can't use my shield since it has a requirement of 76 strength and I only have 70. I do have a helmet that has a -20% requirements. I don't understand why I shouldn't be able to use the shield.